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Chapter 131: Achievement Hunters
Summer was well and truly over and though Halo Academy, it's campus now situated in what had formerly been the Exclusion Zone, was far enough from any greenery that there were no falling leaves swirling around them a bitingly chilly wind whipped around Carcharodon as he strode forward purposefully, the sleeveless and pitch black robe that he wore to replace the tattered cloak that had been a signature of his for years billowed out dramatically behind him as he lowered his hood to reveal a genuine smile on his face which displayed just enough of his countless and impossibly sharp teeth to be threatening.
The howling of the wind, far less deafening at the campus's new lower altitude was almost lost entirely beneath the sound of cheering
"I'd like to think that at least some of that is in my favour" the Shark Faunus noted dryly as he slipped free of the cloak and handed it to Onyx, revealing more of his gaunt and greying yet impressively muscled physique, arms and shoulders laden with tattoos and old scars which could clearly be seen to extend across his chest and back, working out a crick in his neck as he did so.
Nora gave a stern glare in Team GORE's general direction as the presence of the entire team around the edge of the arena was a notable breach in the proper etiquette and as brash as the diminutive redhead was it was clearly imperative to her that the days' events go according to plan. Onyx met her gaze in stony silence as he produced the freshly polished, five-finned helmet that served as the crown of the Frost River Tribe and handed it to Carcharodon before taking a single step back; Carcharodon made a show of raising the symbol of his station above his head and then lowering it into place, leaving only his sharp teeth and bottomless, black eyes visible before he took the final steps onto the edge of the vast circular platform that would be the battleground.
Today he would see Team GORE qualify for their second Vytal Tournament.
"So, today the student becomes the master" across from him stood Shine Jua, leader of Team SNST and though an outsider not born into the Frost River Tribe someone Carcharodon still considered a passible protégée by the standards of the Kingdoms' warriors. The dark skinned teens' clothes were a mismatch of New Vale street fashion, tactical armour and what Carcharodon had heard described as 'Steam-Punk' as always though his cornrows had been allowed to grow into full braids that were tied along his back, Shine had lowered the heavy goggles with their various adjustable lenses and filters over his eves and had deployed his weapon, Ferrum-Manibus in its' ranged mode; the pincers of the claw-like weapon angled back to resemble a crossbow whilst an ammo drum filled with sharpened, Dust-filled steel rods was visible on his right forearm.
"Maybe one day Shine" Carcharodon chuckled "But not today" around them their fellow students continued to cheer even as Nora once again reiterated the rules that the qualification match would follow, a quick glance behind him allowed the Shark Faunus to see Onyx, Hellion and Raffia retreating to the colosseum like like bleachers of Halo Academy's outdoor training area a moment before a low thrumming buzz coming from all around him forced his attention back to the arena.
A fraction of a second later the domed and flickering forcefield that encased the arena flickered into life and the cacophony around them was muffled, thought Nora spoke a single word and both combatants heard it clearly
"Begin!"
Carcharodon closed his eyes in anticipation of the flash blinding light that came with Shine's teleportation Semblance and deployed the Red Waves, whilst in the same fluid motion spinning around and delivering a wide slashing attack into the space he expected his opponent to appear in
Only to hit nothing but air
"Behind you" Carcharodon's dark eyes widened beneath his helmet and he flung himself aside and into a roll away from Shine who had appeared barely a foot away from the Faunus's face with his weapon pressed against the back of his head; his teleportation having baited Carcharodon into turning around.
Shine fired his weapon in the same instant that Carcharodon had begun to move, the projectile scoring a faint groove into the edge of the Shark Faunus's helmet before impacting against the forcefield, where the Gravity Dust payload caused it to ricochet backwards directly at Shine; the younger student caught the returning steel spike before vanishing in a flash of light just as Carcharodon's arm-mounted blades cleaved through the space he had occupied.
"Still behind you!" Carcharodon whirled around and blocked Shine's first attack, a downward stab from the spike in his left hand which was quickly followed up as the younger man shifted his weapon into a new configuration, the twin prongs of its' pincer form shifting forward and combining into a single blade which he promptly attempted to drive into his opponents' gut.
"You're learning" Carcharodon noted as he triggered his own Semblance and allowed the liquid state that his body became to splash harmlessly around the attack, launching his own counteroffensive the moment he had solidified himself behind his opponent
"The modification to your weapon is interesting" he added in a voice what was genuinely pleased as he lunged and brought the Red Waves to bare, forcing Shine back with a seemingly endless barrage of slashes and blows that led fluidly into one another
"Yeah well, having a claw seems kind a dumb when there's people like us around" Shine noted with a small smirk that almost managed to mask his nerves before teleporting again and leaving Carcharodon staggering back, blinded by the flash
The he heard Shine's weapon shifting form behind him and he immediately turned and charged even with his vision still blurred by his watery eyes.
"I'm sure rushing me head on like this is the kind dumb stuff you warn me about?" the Third Year student laughed nervously as he began rapid-firing his weapon, the Lightning Dust projectiles he was using appearing as a series of crackling bolts of light streaking towards the Shark Faunus yet even as he unloaded his salvo he could sense something was wrong; Carcharodon Gore had taught him many things in the sparring and training sessions that Team GORE and Team SNST had shared over the last two years and in that time Shine had learned that his adversary was a merciless and incredibly powerful fighter, he was also calculating in his approach however and his current actions didn't bode well. Eventually Shine watched as one of his steel rods struck the Shark Faunus and seemingly vanished into his body and saw the arcs of lightning coursing of his body and realised what was happening, Carcharodon was using his Semblance to make his body viscous whilst still being liquid and was absorbing the effects of the Dust rounds.
Carcharodon's smile became murderous and Shine's nerve failed him, the younger student teleporting away just as he drew close enough to strike. Wasting no time Carcharodon fully engaged his Semblance and dove into the surface of the arena floor, travelling along its' surface like a stain or living shadow the moment he caught a second flash of light to announce Shine's reappearance; the Third Year had no chance to react as the Faunus burst upwards, the electrical charge that he had stored being discharged as his liquid form washed over his opponent.
"One day you will learn, adaptability is key" Carcharodon sighed as Shine was flung backwards across the arena, smoke rising from his body whilst his weapon sparked and shuddered as he attempted to use it; sensing victory the older student rushed in and offered no quarter, driving his knee into Shine's gut as he attempted to drag himself to his feet and following up with a punishing blow that landed between the shoulder-blades before sinking into the ground once again only to erupt from it with an earth-shattering blow that left Shine seeing stars and gasping for air as the Faunus's hand closed around his throat; he tried to teleport but couldn't, he couldn't shake Carcharodon free and the additional mass was more than he could move in his current disoriented state.
"Or maybe you played yourself?" he managed to choke out, a brazenly desperate attempt at bravado that preceded Shine attempting the sort of tactic that Carcharodon himself would use as he swung his body enough to wrap his legs around the Faunus's arm and drag him to the ground whilst attempting to break the limb
"Clever" Carcharodon conceded before using his Semblance to break free of Shine's grip, allowing his opponent to teleport away and reappear at the edge of the arena, frantically trying to catch his breath
"Very clever" he rasped out under his breath, annoyed at himself for falling for the ploy before rushing towards his opponent once again and making it clear that he was about to dive into the ground; the moment he did so Shine turned to face the attack that would come from behind, desperately trying to get his weapon to function only for Carcharodon's form to never rise from the arena floor
"Behind you" Shine turned around and received a punch in the face that sent him toppling backwards; the irony of this reversal of their early positions occurring to him as he collapsed to the ground between the arena and the forcefield which was deactivated only seconds later, allowing the full scale of the audiences' fever pitch to reach him
"And Carcharodon Gore wins by ring-out!" Nora exclaimed "Team GORE are now qualified for the Vytal Tournament!"
"Fuck" Shine's voice cracked as he fought to maintain his composure and ignore the urge to punch something until he was left confused by the feeling of someone dragging him to his feet
"You fought well" Carcharodon rasped out as he led his protégée away from the arena so that the next match could begin, the praise a rare thing that Shine would have appreciated greatly if the circumstances had been different
"Not well enough" he lamented bitterly "This was Team SNST's last chance at qualifying for a Vytal Tournament….my parents are never gonna see me bring a win home on TV"
"You want glory?" Carcharodon laughed, slapping Shine's back "You've learned well and Team GORE graduate in a few short months….come find our ship after we leave here, you'll have your glory" with that the Shark Faunus departed and made his way towards his team-mates; removing the helmet that served as a crown and collapsing his weapons as he went.
The thrill of a well earned victory combined with the idea of expanding the Frost Rive Tribe and remaking his lost people in his own image brought a smile to Carcharodon's face that would likely remain there for some time.
Pyrrha Nikos's eyes were narrowed as she read, each paragraph aggravating her more than the last.
She, Adam Taurus and Yang Branwen had been on the move for several days following the Chimera's assassination of the police officer whose actions threatened Salem's as yet unrevealed schemes; they relocated to another base of operations at the first sign of the authorities sometimes moving more than once a day whilst none of the trio used a Scroll or any other kind of traceable digital technology, all of the vehicles they used were stolen and disposed of by Adam and in a city as vast as New Vale where so many livelihoods had recently been upended another car-thief was something that would hardly be noticed, Yang had dealt with supply runs to acquire things such as food and Lien whilst wearing the faces of random civilians she passed in the city.
Eventually however they had found a temporary hideout which seemed to be free from the risk of the police stumbling upon it and Pyrrha had finally taken the opportunity to open one of the books Yang had procured and begin researching her counterpart from this timeline.
"That poor deluded girl" the Bandit Queen sighed disparagingly as she shook her head, on some level she could understand this Remnant's Pyrrha even though she disagreed with her fundamentally. This Pyrrha had attempted to become a hero in her own right and forsake the notoriety and bigoted cruelty that came with being born in one of Mistral's settlements and having blood ties to the tribes of Anima; Pyrrha the Invincible Girl had tried to define herself and chose to live her life on her own terms whilst Pyrrha the Bandit Queen had accepted the role that the world cast her in and played it to the best of her abilities.
That she was the one who was still alive served as vindication.
She had been pleasantly surprised to learn that Kataigida Nikos lived in this timeline and that she served as the leader of the Nikosi people who were, if not the undisputed rulers of the Anima Diaspora and fearsome conquerors that she had made them, still a respected force and a thriving culture; though she had chosen to learn of her own counterpart before reading further and learning the answers to questions such as how Helios came to be a student of a Hunter Academy, at the moment she was content with the fact that her people were in the hands of a capable leader. Reading a few pages further in the book that admittedly favoured its' facts with sensationalism she saw a familiar face
"Of all the people to kill me" she lamented, darkly amused and wearing a smirk that almost mirrored that upon Cinder Fall's face in the photograph; whilst she and Salem's Maiden had never truly been friends for Cinder Fall's nature would never allow such a thing they had still been partners and later fellow generals within Salem's forces, the two had respected each other and Pyrrha silently hoped that this Cinder had at least fought her counterpart fairly and granted her a warriors' death.
Reading further she saw something that almost made her choke on air.
"Him? This was your partner, your….lover what on Remnant were you thinking girl?" the redhead demanded of her deceased counterpart; much to the apparent amusement of Yang and Adam whose presence she had allowed herself to forget for a moment
"He looks like an overcooked noodle" she gasped by way of explanation before pushing on, her disdain slowly morphing into utter disbelief as she learned that Jaune Arc was the scion of a proud family of Hunters yet had lied his way into Beacon Academy where he had been partnered with and by all accounts had a loving, if tragically brief relationship with this Remnant's Pyrrha before meeting his end as he avenged her death; both he and Cinder Fall meeting their ends upon each others' blades. Pyrrha silently noted that she would find a monument to the man to pay her respects at before continuing on and turning the page, acid green eyes widening at the sight of the team of Hunters that her counterpart had joined, Team JNPR.
"Vengeance will not be denied to me! Not this time!" her voice shook with rage as she hurled the book across the room, disgusted by the four smiling faces it had shown her. The darkness of her Semblance manifested around her armoured and cybernetic forearms in her rage and her current safe house, one that had been perilously close to the Exclusion Zone when it had fallen and whose inhabitants had either perished or simply never returned began to shake uncontrollably; the pipes rattling within the walls and floor with all the force of a small earthquake
"Control yourself!" Adam snapped, Pyrrha paid little heed to the Faunus and merely summoned her weapons and armour to herself with a wave of her hand and burst of her Magnetic Semblance
"And just who are you planning on killing?" Yang grinned maniacally as Pyrrha took a step towards the door, donning her fur cloak as she did so
"Someone who I was cheated out of killing in my Remnant" she snarled, flexing the fingers of her mechanical hands as she spoke and making it clear to her allies exactly what injustice against her self she wished to avenge
"You were allowed to research to learn, not to give yourself an excuse to risk Salem's plans" the Chimera growled savagely, fiery eyes glowing red as she spoke. The joints of Pyrrha's fists whined under the strain as she clenched them
"Consider your next move carefully Nikos" Yang warned "Your Semblance would be a useful addition"
"I wouldn't even know where to find them" Pyrrha answered truthfully, she may have found the answer in the book that she had been reading but she was more open to the idea of burning it than continuing with it at present "I need air" she finally added before leaving the safe house.
"Going to follow her?" Adam asked
"She's telling the truth" Yang shrugged "Although I'm almost interested in what got that kind of reaction from her" she and Adam locked eyes for a moment before the Bull Faunus slouched across the room and retrieved the book, finding the general area of where Pyrrha had been
"Ah, she died at the Fall of Vale here….apparently the White Fang led the charge here as well, I was likely involved elsewhere in the fighting and-" the Bull Faunus's eyes widened and he set the book down, quickly taking another from the pile that Yang had taken from the library and searching its' table of contents before reading until he slumped backwards into a chair, setting the book down as a single choked sob escaped him
"Oh what is it now?" Yang demanded, her frustration with her comrades emotional investment in their comrades infuriating her, Adam looked at her with watery eyes and managed to utter a single word with a strangled cry
"Blake"
Helios couldn't help but wear an amused smile as he watched Felix and Nyanza leap to their feet and lead the cheering that continued to reach new levels of intensity; the qualification matches had continued into the afternoon and due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the leadership of Team RAIN both Redshank Bronzewing and Amethyst Wukong had been eligible to serve as their teams' representative, with Redshank abdicating the role to his partner
"Hey, on your damn feet!" Nyanza insisted with feigned outrage as he turned to Helios "You live on Patch now and we support our own" Helios chuckled at that and rose to his feet, adding his own voice to the cheers whilst the other members of Teams FADE and NEON were left to shake their heads and roll their eyes at their display. Amethyst had found herself facing off against a Third Year student whose experience had initially tipped the odds in her favour, the older Huntress having landed several crushing blows on the Monkey Faunus early on that would certainly leave her a battered and bruised mess; Amethyst however had quickly learned to anticipate her opponents' moves and had turned the tide, using her Semblance to great effect; showing the crowd just why she had been Yang Xiao Long's star pupil.
"Holy Oum she's gonna win, she's actually gonna win!" Felix was giddy at the thought as he watched his childhood friend unleash an exceptionally brutal string of attacks, her gauntlets powered with Ice and Hard-light Dust before finally using the glowing clone of herself that her Semblance created to deliver an uppercut to her opponents chin.
The entire crowd went wild, with those from Patch being the most enthusiastic by far as Amethyst was declared the winner and Team RAIN were qualified for the Vytal Tournament in a result that was something of an upset.
"You've gotta follow that up now Fluffy!" Nyanza laughed whilst relishing the fact that he was free of any such obligations
"He will" Helios assured his partner, wrapping an arm around Felix's waist and pulling him closer; their conversation was interrupted by the sound of Nora's amplified voice
"And for our next qualification match!" both Felix and Helios felt their stomachs clench, there were only a few bouts left to be resolved at this point and whilst the idea of them facing each other was not one they enjoyed it was becoming ever more likely
"Helios Nikos of Team NEON!"
"Go get 'em Heely" Felix threw his arms around the taller mans shoulders and pulled him into a kiss which earned them both a round of cheers and wolf-whistles from the crowd around them until Nora announced the name of his opponent
"Rajah Koopan of Team RAVN! Make your way to the arena!"
"Oh come on that's not fair, re-roll it" Diamond scoffed as she gestured to the screen which had been set up, displaying the faces of both fighters; Felix turned and gave her an incredulous look which the sniper met defiantly until Helios sighed
"She's right….this is unfair, he's a first year" the redhead considered his options before realising what needed to be done to maintain his honour whilst also qualifying for the tournament; kissing Felix's cheek he set off towards the arena.
And began unfastening his armour as he went.
With his chest plate having been melted down over the summer it was easier to remove the individual pieces without breaking his stride and his actions seemed to garner some interest from the audience, gasps and whispers passing through the crowd as he laid not only the entirety of his armour; save for the bracers he would never remove at Nora's feet but also the sword and shield that comprised Olympus Enforcer.
He entered the arena and nodded to his opponent
"This is not the way I would have chosen to qualify, just know that nobody will think less of you for this….least of all me"
"Thanks I guess" Rajah called back, the First Year student was tall and wiry with light brown skin; a Vulture Faunus whose entirely bald head was offset by a ruff of feathers around their neck and shoulders and whose bare feet ended in curved and deadly looking talons. A pair of exceptionally high calibre pistols hung at his waist and despite the utterly biased arrangement of the match the teen managed to appear relatively confident as he adjusted his weight.
"Begin!" the moment the word left Nora's lips Rajah had sprung into action drawing his pistols and opening fire; Helios's jet black Aura manifested around him as he activated his Semblance and amplified gravity to such an extent that the bullets careened downwards and struck the ground before revealing their explosive payloads. A wall of flames blocked Rajah from view and Helios was immediately on guard with his instincts being proven correct seconds later as the Faunus burst into view, aiming an aerial spinning kick at his skull; the redhead narrowly avoided the attack only to be left staggering by the low sweep that Rajah transitioned it into.
"Come on, don't hold back!" the younger student demanded as he opened fire again, as explosive round striking Helios in the shoulder and setting the hoodie that he had been wearing beneath his armour ablaze
"If you insist" Helios sighed and as Rajah charged him once more the redhead brought his right hand to his left shoulder and ripped the burning garment free of his body whilst in the same motion backhanding his opponent square in the mouth with enough force to leave him reeling.
From there it was a simple formality
A roundhouse kick struck Rajah in the chin and Helios reduced gravity enough to leave the boy floating in the air, taking advantage of his prone state to deliver a devastating gut punch before seizing both sides of his opponents skull and magnifying gravity to an absurd degree before driving it down into his knee; beyond that Rajah could barely fight and was left standing on wobbling legs offering only a token resistance to Helios's attacks until the match was called the moment the younger students' Aura dropped into the red.
"You did well" Helios assured him as he helped the clearly dazed Rajah out of the arena before passing him into the care of his team-mates who despite understanding that what had happened was nothing personal, were unable to bring themselves to smile or thank the redhead for his help. Helios quickly retrieved his armour and his weapons and prepared to make his way back to the stands, unbothered by the fact that the cheering, whilst still deafening seemed lesser than it had for the other bouts.
What did bring him to a halt however was the person standing just beyond the outdoor training area.
From their current position outside of the colosseum like structures' many entrances none of the audience would be able to see the woman whose golden armour could be seen beneath the heavy fur cloak she wore; whilst her face and identity were obscured by the hood of the cloak Helios could sense her attention shift from whoever she had been watching to himself.
The figure gave him a nod of approval and Helios blinked in surprise; a moment later the unknown Nikosi was gone.
"You're drooling again" Diamond teased
"Fuck off" Felix replied bluntly
"Yeah definitely drooling" Arctus chuckled, Felix made no effort to respond until he saw Eagle nod in agreement and giggle into the shoulder of Hellion, who was currently all but sat on her lap
"You too, I thought we were friends?" the Lion Faunus exclaimed, affecting a hurt tone which only served to leave his friends in hysterics.
Naturally the teasing had started when Helios's hoodie had been set on fire and torn off, revealing his impressive physique along with the tattoos and scars that covered it;
Helios's tattoos were a work of art, easily as extensive as any member of Team GORE's and covering much of his torso and arms in the iconography and art of the Nikosi depicting his victories whilst his vast array of scars were a record of his losses, struggles and some cases the foolish decisions he'd made as a child, the stories behind which Felix had enjoyed hearing as he asked Helios about each scar in turn as they lay in bed together.
"You're all dicks" Felix finally snorted before leaving his seat and meeting Helios as the redhead made his way back to their group of friends
"Okay it was never in doubt that you'd win, but still" Felix beamed as he nuzzled into his boyfriend affectionately "One of us is gonna win this whole damn tournament, I'm calling right….hey are you okay?" he pulled back a fraction upon sensing an odd rigidity in Helios's body where he usually responded in kind to any physical contact
"The woman who attacked us, the Nikosi….I just saw her"
"What here?" Felix demanded incredulously, in truth he had almost forgotten about the incident; the sheer volume of work that the Fourth Years had been subjected to had pushed the incident, as odd as it was to the back of his mind whilst the ongoing Grimm infestations in the city, training for today's qualification matches and the shock of hearing from his mothers that they were going to travel to Atlas for a while owing to an attempt to implicate Yang in a murder had all taken precedence
"Here, she was watching the training matches I think?"
"One of the other Academies paying someone to deal with competition, I mean it'd explain 'em trying to draw you out" Felix suggested, shaking is head as he realised that suggestion seemed unsatisfactory even to himself and simply shrugged "We'll talk to Qrow later, even if he doesn't tell us anything he should know about it" the conversation was then brought to an abrupt halt by Nora's voice calling out to announce the next bout, signalling that the nanobot caches around the outdoor training area had repaired the arena
"Aqua Tsuyu of Team AQUA and Felix Xiao Long of Team FADE! Make your way to the arena!"
The crowd erupted at the mere thought of the match that was about to unfold.
"I have no ill will for Aqua" Helios smiled softly as he rested his forehead against Felix's "But show no mercy" he kissed the Faunus and Felix felt just a little more confident as he unsheathed Hack and Slash and strode purposefully toward the arena; he knew that this was going to be a gruelling battle however, he and Aqua had been classmates for a little over three years now and had sparred against each other often enough to know many of each others' tricks.
"Well damn….I was hoping we'd all qualify somehow" Aqua called across to and interrupting his thoughts "All the Fourth Year teams qualify and put on a show in the tournament, 'do it for Team PSTL' y'know?"
"It would've been nice" Felix agreed. Tail swishing behind him as he added "I'm sorry you're gonna have to cheer us on from the stands" the Frog Faunus merely snorted and gave a wide smile as she lowered a pair of goggles over her face and deployed her quarterstaff whilst she assumed a crouching position; the powerful muscles of her legs tensed coiled.
The protective forcefield sprung into life around them and Felix swallowed and forced the sinking feeling in his gut to the back of his mind; a year of therapy had helped him manage the bouts of claustrophobia and PTSD that the White Fang's attack on the previous Vytal Tournament had left him with but they were still something he had to actively work against. Aqua cocked her head questioningly and Felix was grateful for the fact that his opponent was not someone who would take advantage of his momentary distraction, he nodded to assure his fellow Faunus that was more than ready for their bout just as Nora spoke
"Begin!"
Aqua was blindingly fast but Felix had the benefit of experience and leapt aside the moment he saw her weight shift; the Frog Faunus propelled herself forwards and crossed half of the arena in a single leap before her long, prehensile and incredibly powerful tongue darted out and struck the ground where the Lion Faunus had stood; as it was retracted Aqua ripped a chunk of the ground free and used her staff to bat it in Felix's direction with her Aura fuelling the blow.
"That's cheap Aqua, it's always been cheap!" Felix taunted as he effortlessly knocked the projectile aside
"It worked though!" Aqua's words were so badly slurred and muffled that Felix almost struggled to understand her, then he realised that the attack had been a distraction as she managed to leap directly upwards and dart her tongue out towards the surface of the forcefield which she then, in an utter flaunting of the way physics were supposed to work proceeded to stick to as she activated her Semblance
"Shit" Felix spat simply as he shifted Hack and Slash into their machine-pistol modes and opened fire; Aqua's Semblance was similar to his own in ways though whilst Felix could use his whole body to absorb thermal energy Aqua could only use her tongue yet the appendage was capable of siphoning of almost any form of power with the only exception being that she couldn't directly steal another persons' Aura and where Felix became stronger the increases to Aqua's abilities seemed as though they were more evenly distributed; even as he continued to shoot Felix could see that her reactions were speeding up until she allowed herself to drop to the ground by which point she was a blur of motion and parried machine-gun fire with her staff with ease. He changed tactics and shifted one of his weapons back into its' chainsaw-bladed sword mode whilst loading the other with incendiary rounds as he continued to fire whilst charging towards his opponent; the incendiary rounds detonated on impact and the winds created by Aqua's movement only fanned the flames, Felix allowed himself a savage smile as he activated his Semblance and absorbed their heat with his golden Aura flickering around him before colliding with Aqua and delivering a punishing kick to her ribs.
She could become faster and stronger but Felix could become unstoppable.
The Frog Faunus was flung backwards, hurtling through the air before sinking her staff into the ground and using it to bring herself to a halt and quickly leaping back into the fray; she spat her tongue directly at Felix's face in an effort to disorient him to which the Lion Faunus responded by simply grasping the appendage and pulling her off balance and directly into the path of a powerful haymaker
"That wath cheap Felikth!" Aqua accused, lisping her words out as she retracted her tongue before collapsing her staff into its' shotgun mode and firing, a Gravity Dust shell impacted against Felix's chest and flung him almost the entire way across the arena, his weapons flying from his hands in the process.
"Damn it!" Felix ground out as he dragged himself to his feet, the sound of the crowd thundering all around him as he realised that he been knocked dangerously close to the edge of the arena and that Aqua was charging toward him; he knew that as skilled as he was he would most likely be forced out the arena if the match was allowed to continue on his opponents terms.
And then the answer came to him, he had entered his Balrog State over the summer several times but there had been no need to access the true upper limits of his powers that had been revealed to him in the battle against Ozymandias Eldritch. As Aqua closed the distance Felix focused and felt the Aura regulator and Dust reserves integrated into his cybernetic tail be activated as he began to change, his body becoming black and stony in texture whilst his hair, eyes and the veins of what had once resembled magma that criss-crossed his body glowed pure white and blue flames engulfed his body.
"What the-" Aqua couldn't slow herself down fast enough and found herself colliding with a punch that left her somersaulting over Felix's arm with its' force; the Lion Faunus pressed the advantage and grabbed her ankle whilst she was still airborne and hurled her across the arena, carving a trench into the ground as she rolled to a stop. No sooner had the dazed and bewildered Faunus managed to right herself than Felix was on her again
"Nothing personal" he assured her as he delivered an uppercut that sent her sailing through the air to land in a crumpled heap
"And Aqua Tsuyu's Aura has dropped into the red!" Nora declared, struggling to be heard over the cacophony of the crowd "Felix Xiao Long wins and Team FADE have qualified for the Vytal Tournament!" Felix gave a thumbs up to the crowd and more specifically his friends as he felt his body revert to its' natural state, his vision becoming blurry as he sank to his knees and gasped for breath; his entire body felt heavy as he felt himself begin to teeter on the edge of consciousness though the sound of footsteps rushing closer told him that someone, most likely Nora or Helios was coming to help him up
Which was nice, because he realised there was no way he was going to make it to his dormitory on his own.
The home seemed almost entirely remarkable, which only served to stir fresh emotions in Adam Taurus as he stared almost longingly at it from beyond the clearing that had been made behind its' backyard
A stunningly normal home for such a remarkable woman, this worlds' Blake Belladonna had survived the ill-fated attack that had seen her fall beneath a train in his own timeline and gone on to become a Huntress and war hero, famous across all of Remnant then become a founding member of a Faunus and workers rights group made in the image of the original White Fang which had by any sane metric succeeded in its' goals and made Remnant a fairer, more accepting place; she had also settled on Patch and raised two adopted children, one of whom Adam realised was named after someone they had both known growing up in Sienna Khan's orphanage.
That she had done this with a human woman and rejected Adam and his beliefs outright, abandoning him during the course of the very same mission which had led to her death in his Remnant was something that left the Faunus's Semblance crackling around him ominously as he tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong in a Remnant that was objectively better than the one he had left.
That this Blake's wife was also this timelines' iteration of his current accomplice was entirely different matter that he wasn't sure he could deal with whilst retaining his sanity.
"The house is empty, they're gone for a while" Yang Branwen stated, announcing her presence as she appeared beside him in a shower of black petals; seeing a version of her own face in the newspaper clippings and books that Adam had pored over frantically as he learned of this Remnants' history had been enough to finally allow her to indulge her own curiosity
"So….three Remnants and you took my arm in all of them" she noted almost conversationally "We'll have to ask Pyrrha how things happened in hers, but at least this me did something and took your-"
"Don't finish that sentence unless you want to find out if you're still human enough to die" Adam snarled
"I love it when my victims are feisty" the Chimera snorted disparagingly; in truth her opposite self baffled her, beyond the fact that she had sided against Salem the idea of so much raw power being seemingly squandered in its' prime so that she could become a teacher of all things was anathema to her, she mused to herself that if this was the result of being raised by her father rather than her mother she was glad to have grown up in Salem's fortress with the Grimm for company.
Yang Xiao Long would be pitiable, if Yang Branwen were capable of pity.
"Did you get what you came for?" she finally asked, unsure as to what exactly Adam hoped to gain from this venture considering that he had been utterly unwavering on the fact that they were not here to spill blood; which the Chimera was mildly annoyed at as the idea of consuming what was essentially her own soul was an interesting one to her.
"Oh I got almost everything I wanted" Adam laughed bitterly, voice cracking as he spoke "I just didn't expect it to look this….I didn't expect to be so wrong about everything"
"You expected you glorious empire" Yang sighed in a bored tone, only for Adam to shake his head
"This Remnant, this timeline….it's everything I never dared to dream mine could be" his shoulders shook with a sound halfway between a choked sob and a demented cackle "And it couldn't have happened without everyone who mattered to me siding with the humans; it would have been hilarious if it wasn't true….I was a focal point for everything that happened to make this Remnant better and in the end I still managed to amount to nothing but the evil Faunus bogeyman that Atlesian parents frighten their children with"
"And do you intend to do anything about it or just cry and rage at the world?" Yang sneered mockingly; truthfully she was glad to have been as free of personal attachments as she was they seemed to do nothing but cause the kind of pain that she couldn't use as fuel for her wrath.
"I do" Adam nodded, wiping his eyes and utterly disgusted at himself for such a display of emotions in front of someone whom he knew would kill him at the first opportunity. He remained silent for some time, glowering out at Xiao Long home in a way that had been described as brooding by those who didn't know the man well enough until finally his course of action became clear
"When Pyrrha returns tell her that I'm heading to Atlas-"
"Salem's plans are-"
"This is part of the plan" Adam overrode the interruption and continued speaking "Blake was not the only person to abandon this Remnants' Adam Taurus and I'm certain that if I find the person I'm looking for I'll find members of Qrow Branwen's inner circle. It will do us no good to achieve a small victory in New Vale just to fail because we played our hand too soon"
"Go" Yang nodded in understanding before adding a final taunt as the Faunus began to walk away "Just don't die in Atlas, even less people will mourn this time" Adam's crimson Aura flickered and blazed around him uncontrollably for a moment as he struggled with the temptation to turn and attack Yang; whom he knew was trying to goad him into doing precisely that so that she would have a pretext for killing him.
Instead he silently stalked away and privately pondered just how much longer Salem's goals would continue to align with his own.
By the time Qrow Branwen joined Glynda Goodwitch in her office night had fallen over New Vale and in the remains of the Exclusion Zone the darkness was almost tangible; the lights from the city in the distance or the aerial platforms which hung above it seeming almost as unreachable as the stars.
"Who's going to be involved?" Qrow grunted out as the legs of his walking chair lowered and tucked themselves up until he was at the perfect height to view the screen of Glynda's computer
"Winter and Ruby" Glynda answered as she readjusted her glasses and took her seat beside him; entering a series of commands that locked down her office, making it impossible to enter or spy on which was why the call was being held here, rather than in Qrow's apartment which was also more likely to receive visitors.
"Only those two?" he asked with a hint of concern before letting out a wordless growl and beginning the transmission on a secure channel
"Qrow, Glynda; good evening" Winter suppressed a yawn as she greeted them; the bags under her eyes as her video video flickered into view making it painfully clear that despite delegating what duties she could afford to being both a headmistress and a general was an exhausting workload.
"Uncle Qrow" Ruby's voice announced her presence a moment before her own camera feed flickered into life, Qrow saw that his niece had removed her cape and whilst the sight of Penny by her side was completely expected the sight of Coco Adel opposite her had not been, though considering that the surviving members of Team CFVY were all operatives Qrow replied upon on Menagerie her presence was a welcome one
"Velv and Yatsu are downstairs keeping an eye on the kids" Coco offered, sensing that presence required some explanation as it was rare that she took part in the calls between members of their group "Qrow sent the word out that we all needed to talk and Ruby had to bring me up to speed on some things"
"That's not all" Ruby added, a small frown crossing her face though Penny gently squeezing her hand seemed to relieve her irritation as she added "There's someone else here"
"Salutations buddy" a familiar sneering tone greeted them all as a new channel was opened, this one audio only "Sorry, no cam to cam action tonight….on account of me not having a physical body at the moment"
"Why is she here?" Winter demanded furious at the mere existence of the rogue Atlesian android
"Because I think something deeper than just a few Grimm infestations are going on in New Vale and Nickel was Ozymandias Eldritch's operative" Qrow answered, with a glower at the blank icon where Nickel's face should have been and he was almost certain that she could see all of them. Ruby had warned him of the developments involving Nickel and he was grateful for the warning, despite what he told Eagle losing the use of his legs had been devastating and he wasn't sure how he would have reacted to the unannounced presence of the person responsible
"Is this in connection with what's happening to Yang and Blake?" Ruby asked, silver eyes filled with anger at the thought of her sister being a target of any nefarious schemes
"It is" Qrow nodded before turning his attention to Winter "Where are Blake and Yang?"
"False hotel reservations were set up whilst they were transported to Schnee Manor which is being discreetly guarded; as far as we can tell nobody has made any move to attack or even follow them….naturally we can't expect them to behave like prisoners so they're being shadowed by a team of Specialists whenever they leave the manor. I suppose an upside of this is that Athena-Jade and Coral get to spend some more time with their Aunts" Winter's answer gave Qrow some comfort, he at least knew that they were safe even if it did provide no answers.
"That's sensational" Penny breathed out a similar sigh of relief before adding "Let's focus on what we know and extrapolate what we can from that"
"We know that ever since the Exclusion Zone fell there have been a series of infestations within the city in the form of a kind of Maggot Grimm which matures into something like a botfly or mosquito Grimm that I haven't been able to find any kind of records on" Qrow began "We also know that this isn't a result of the Exclusion Zone being destroyed owing to the facts that both the first reported instance of the Fly Grimm was reported at the perimeter wall and that no reports of this kind of Grimm have been situated in or around the Exclusion Zone….combined with the fact that this Grimm seems to spread itself into living hosts like an infection so that it can spread itself across the city; something we've never seen a Grimm do before I think it's pretty obvious that this isn't something that escaped, this is something that directly attacked the city"
"I'll admit that I was initially reluctant to believe that this was the work of any higher intelligence" Glynda admitted "But upon seeing that the Grimm were deliberately spreading themselves and that their infestations seem to be directly targeting areas of the city that are well-"
"Full of poor people so the Council doesn't care about 'em" Qrow growled "Not since Junior was killed"
"Precisely" Glynda admitted with a sigh "This deliberate targeting of areas where they would be left undisturbed rather than attacking all civilians in sight isn't something that fits Grimm behaviour….I found myself sharing Qrow's belief that Pantheon had grown more intelligent and was instructing the Grimm under their command to infiltrate the city and set up sleeper cells"
"Then the police officer who found more than half of the infestations was murdered" Qrow growled out
"By the chick who disguised herself as Yang?" Coco noted with an arched eyebrow
"But why so badly?" Winter mused "We've all seen that footage, that was Yang's face but everything else….she looked too young, the hair, that axe, the arm…."
"The Grimm arm" Qrow nodded "And we all saw that footage….we know that she was using other peoples' Semblances, that wasn't just any speed Semblance Ruby that was your Semblance, I'd know it anywhere"
"The illusion Semblance, it was almost certainly the as Operative Politan's" Winter added thoughtfully
"So what we're saying is that we think Ozymandias had an a partner who's remained hidden for this long?" Ruby asked, eyebrows raising as she considered the idea "And that either they or Pantheon are the one to target a police officer and try and frame Yang?"
"They also appeared here" Qrow added
"WHAT?" Ruby looked ready to return to New Vale in an instant
"We believe" Glynda amended "Helios Nikos reports having seen a woman who hides her face but wears armour reminiscent to Nikosi armour on more than one occasion and we believe it may be connected
"But why hide her face if she can mask her appearance?" Coco asked
"Nickel do you have anything to add?" Qrow asked, noting that the usually abrasive android had remained silent for some time
"Ozymandias had some degree of Grimm tissue in his body as well" she spoke slowly, as if still trying to piece the information together herself "I saw cough up blood that was laced with it and I saw him impale himself with Pantheon's weapon and the injury heal up, he was dying; the powers that were keeping him alive after that shot to the head were slowly ripping him apart from the inside-"
"I have reason to believe that he was the most recent iteration of the Wizard" Qrow stated matter of factly
"Right, but he was almost possessed at times….and when he was and was talking the voice that seemed to be in charge was definitely a woman, so maybe that's who this attacker was?"
"Why reveal herself now though?" Winter murmured
"Out of options?" Ruby offered
"Unlikely, we've been on the defensive and one step behind the entire damn time" Qrow noted bitterly
"So what's the plan?" Nickel chimed in hopefully "Come on there's only so many times I can play pong against myself, it's getting boring being stuck in a computer that doesn't even have Wi-Fi"
"You do nothing" Qrow growled "Ruby, Coco….Keep an eye on things on Menagerie, cover the Spring Maiden and keep an eye on Corvid; Yang's face, Ruby's Semblance I can't help but feel like this is personal somehow and I don't want us to leave ourselves open to a surprise attack elsewhere. Winter, keep Blake and Yang safe-"
"Naturally" Winter nodded
"And Glynda and I are going to continue to monitor things here….although it's clear that we can't continue to be passive; I have some ideas on how the Grimm infestations might be spreading and we're gonna convince the council to let us have some people we trust go take a look; I'd do it myself but…." he trailed off.
"Whoever it is, they need to know exactly what they're heading into" Ruby noted "No more secrets, not for something like this"
"Agreed" Qrow nodded "Unless anyone has anything they'd like to add?"
"We should get going" Ruby shook her head "Goodnight"
"I'll keep you informed" Winter nodded her head before her screen faded to black
"Later buddy" Nickel declared, all too cheerily before leaving the call and once they were alone Glynda rounded on Qrow
"I've known you long enough to know when you're lying….what are you not telling them?"
"Nothing I can prove, nothing I want to alarm people with until I have something to back it up" he grumbled, making no effort to deny the claim accusation but remaining silent until Glynda's glaring grew impossible to ignore.
"It's just an idea I have, I'm trying to make the pieces fit and honestly Glynda I have never hoped that I'm wrong so much in my entire life" he sighed "Salem never fought out in the open, we had to go to her; that's what she had Cinder and her other lackies for and we all immediately saw that fake Yang's Grimm arm and thought of Cinder"
"You think there's some greater mastermind we're yet to encounter?" Glynda arched an eyebrow
"I think a Grimm infested Wizard was possessed by someone and had an obsession with finding a Grimm that had a fossilised Grimm heart that let it regenerate from anything and now, barely three months later we've got whole new kinds of Grimm and someone killing cops using other peoples' Semblances, including dead people to do it so no Glynda, I don't think we have a new threat….I'm starting to think that Salem might never have been as dead as we thought"
Glynda's face paled as she sought to find a convincing counterargument to what seemed, despite how terrifying it was to be an utterly plausible and sound theory and realised that in spite of her best efforts she couldn't find one.
Team FADE had made their way into the city to celebrate their qualification for the Vytal Tournament. It had taken Felix a few hours to regain his strength after revealing what he had begun dubbing his 'Ultimate Balrog' form to his classmates and by the time he had done so the academies' mess hall was about to close, this had been justification enough for the Lion Faunus to declare that the evening would not be wasted on work when his actions had earned them all a break; Arctus, Diamond and Eagle had found this logic to be impeccable and the four of them had piled into the Lightning Bug in search of food, agreeing that they would meet Teams NEON and GORE in the city as soon as they could make their own way there, Team AQUA had also offered to join them as the sting of being unable to compete would not stop them from celebrating their friends' triumph.
Felix had found out that Myrtle was working late that evening and they had made the decision to drive to the cafe she worked at so that the Lion Faunus could tell his biological mother that he had qualified for the Vytal Tournament in person; Team FADE also collectively filmed a video announcing the good news and sent it to all four of their parents, Arctus and Felix's siblings and Eagle's grandparents and several of her aunts, uncles and younger cousins.
Whilst Myrtle took a break and Felix took the opportunity for the two of them to call Astra and share the good news, with Redwood in the background noting that he'd be willing to put some serious Lien on Team FADE Eagle, Arctus and Diamond chatted amongst themselves as they waited to order
"I can't wait for the students from the other academies to get here" Eagle declared "We're gonna be seeing people that we haven't been able to hang out with since Second Year, I can't wait to see how much more bad-ass everyone's gotten"
"It's gonna be cool" Diamond admitted "It's gonna be great if some of my old Mistral friends qualify again"
"It's gonna make hanging out with Team NEON a little awkward" Arctus noted
"Yeah….Razz and Nyanza that's gonna be rough for a few weeks" Diamond agreed with a resigned shrug "I really don't wanna get involved in their relationship stuff but I hope they can both at least be friends"
"So we're not gonna try and get them back together at the dance?" Eagle asked, the mischievous smile on her face leaving her friends almost certain that she was joking though Diamond still took no chances
"No way dude, not unless one of them asks" Arctus silently nodded in agreement though he suddenly seemed very distracted
"Okay fine" Eagle gave a wide green before asking earnestly "But Dee can we go shopping together in the city sometime? The dance at the last ball was mine and Hellion's first date so this is gonna be our two year anniversary….I want it to be perfect"
"Aww look at you" Diamond gave a soft smile as she seemed to realise just how far her friend had grown and come into her own since they first met, though the freckled blonde still flushed scarlet as she asked the question
"Of course I'll help you leave Hellion have the best night ever" the sniper laughed, playing with strands of her silvery hair as she added "Hey Fluffy and Heely had their first date at the dance it Atlas as well….Oh my Oum this is gonna be cute as hell we've gotta get pictures Big Guy….hey Arctus?"
"Huh, yeah….Yeah we'll get pictures" Arctus nodded along and forced himself to concentrate though his thoughts were elsewhere entirely.
The talk of the dance had given him an idea which the Bear Faunus now cursed himself for not thinking of sooner and now his thoughts were with the engagement ring currently tucked away in a drawer and that was where they stayed until Felix returned to their table with all the overambitious and borderline chaotic energy that his victory had filled him with.
Authors Notes:
Yes I'm aware the title is a shit pun and an epic reach...The students acheived something, the mirror universe characters learned about their counterparts' achievements; do you know how hard it is to come up with this many chapter titles?
So I've gotta put a big SPOILER WARNING here for people who don't have First accounts because I'm gonna address the elephant with the room which is RWBY Vol.7 Episode 12….
That was an utter shit-show where it felt like they undid character arcs, made events that had happened in what had thus far been possibly the best volume of the show yet amount to absolutely nothing and queer-baited their audience for what feels like nothing more than cheap shock value.
No I will not be entertaining discourse on this, Qrow and Clover's scenes were romantically coded and having the horizon be a fucking Bi-Pride flag in the background of Qrow crying over his body is beyond insulting to RoosterTeeth's Mlm audience.
Obviously I haven't seen the finale yet, I don't if or how they're going to give us any kind of satisfactory or even meaningful resolution at this point and honestly episode 12 has single-handedly killed off a lot of my enthusiasm for the show.
Maybe I'll feel better after finale, maybe the hiatus will be enough of a break for me to be willing to give RoosterTeeth another chance but at this point I'm not sure if I'm gonna be sticking around for Vol.8, I might honestly continue to be part of the community and only interact with fan content whilst entirely disregarding canon.
But what I can promise my readers right now is that it will in no way affect the time and effort that I put into FADE, uploads will continue and this story will be finished; I have not worked on this story for this long just to throw it away now.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we:
Seriously, it must been have cold on Halo Academy while it was up there
Also Carcharodon is definitely a dramatic bitch for that whole entrance.
Remember, Team GORE were not well liked in the second year tournament, because they weren't trying to put a show on; they were breaking heads and taking no prisoners.
Yes he put the crown on, because it might only be a qualification match but it's still honourable single combat with some stakes.
Team SNST were the first people at Halo to actually really try to interact with Team GORE remember, basically following Car around hoping Senpai would notice them after wiped the floor with all four of 'em.
Shine has definitely learned from Car judging by that opening salvo.
In my head the trick where he caught the rebounding spike was slow motion and cinematic as hell.
A teleporter against someone with a liquid body; interestingly enough Shine' comment about a weapon like his not working on Carcharodon is true, but it would work in Shine himself as we saw he couldn't teleport with the additional mass of Car holding onto him.
Remember in second year when Car used Fire Dust to make his liquid form boil and then attacked Beta like that, yeah he's doing the same sort of thing here.
Sink into the floor just to burst up and gut-shot someone who was already on the floor….that's a Kung Lao special move right there.
Trying to break the arm holding onto him is exactly the sort of thing Carcharodon would teach and you know it.
Carcharodon is gonna slowly remake the tribe, or something close to it; which may or may not be a found family?
And finally we get the mirror versions learning about themselves.
And there's the difference, our Pyrrha wanted to be more than the titles she was given and to be seen as an actual person; this Pyrrha never believed she could be. One Pyrrha made a choice, the other didn't think there was a choice to make.
So Pyrrha isn't going to go after the Nikosi and take over in this timeline; she's happy to let Kataigida lead them.
Evil! Pyrrha took one look at Jaune and instantly thought "Noodle".
So it was pretty obvious that someone on Team JNPR, which means it could only have been Ren or Nora was the one who took Pyrrha's arms from the elbow down.
Teamwork is key….these villains do not have it.
Well Adam knows that Blake's alive now.
Team RAIN's leadership gets passed around based on who doesn't want to deal with shit at any given time.
Patch kids are a unified force wherever they go, that small community breeds a sense of loyalty.
Y'all really thought I was gonna have Felix and Helios square off in a qualification match?
Helios is OP and he was gonna win against whoever he was put against, he's routinely been noted as being the best one on one fighter in the academy; so may as well put him against some First Year and get it over with.
But Heely is still gonna be honourable and make it as fair as he can.
RIP that hoodie.
Using gravity to manipulate momentum makes Helios a real bastard to have to try and fight, especially since he's learned to reduce it as well as increase.
Pyrrha, Yang and Adam were hiding near the Exclusion Zone; Pyrrha knows that Helios as that academy and probably heard the noise from the fights and decided to have a look, the nod was because Helios won and did it honourably, making things fair for his opponent….Now who else would she be watching, it's like their were any members of Team JNPR refereeing that match or anything.
Just imagine Helios telling Felix about his scars "This one was from my first Grimm hunting expedition, this one was from single combat, this one was from when I fell out of a tree"
Yeah Felix is dealing with a lot at the moment, also Blake and Yang are safe in Atlas.
Felix's idea would be a plausible one, if he and us as readers didn't know that there are much bigger things at play.
Yay for the kids learning to work with others, including the people in the know sometimes.
Helios give the best pep-talks.
Aqua's been a placeholder of a character, let's give her some real screen time….Kinda like when they finally showed of Velvet's weapon in Vol.3.
Nope, I haven't forgotten the fact that forcefields have made Felix jumpy ever since the showdown with Celeste in Vol.6.
Writing this I had to remember that these two characters have known each other for years at this point and have seen each others' tricks; hence comments about thing like the cheap shot with the debris.
I actually mentioned Aqua having an energy siphoning Semblance back in Vol.1 and it's never really been shown; so now here it is….it's basically a more balanced yet harder to activate version of Felix's Semblance, with no Balrog form; so the balance was interesting.
Staff/Similar melee weapon + Shotgun is a weapon combo I go for a lot….
Felix had a trick she hadn't seen yet; there wouldn't be much point to him breaking out his Ultimate form in sparring matches….Except maybe against Nora.
Okay so I'd like to remind everyone that this is not canon Adam; I began Downward Spiral before Vol.4 started so I knew Adam was a villain but just how much of a creep wasn't out there yet; therefore when I wrote Adam I focused less on the abusive side of him and more than fanatical extremist side, he didn't use the White Fang as a means to an end he was a true believer in the cause and that made him terrifying; this is another take on that Adam.
That being said, Adam seeing this timeline where he's dead and everyone is better off because of it is basically like Ebenezer Scrooge meeting the ghost of Christmas Future.
Evil Yang is fun to write "You took my right hand, but I took your 'right hand'".
"I love it when my victims are feisty" now that is just straight up chilling.
"I was a focal point for everything that happened to make this Remnant better and in the end I still managed to amount to nothing but the evil Faunus bogeyman that Atlesian parents frighten their children with" Because Adam, whatever version of him we're talking about will always find a way to make it about himself.
So Adam is heading to Atlas but he isn't looking for Blake….now who else could he be looking for there.
Also, more doubt from Adam.
So Nickel Polendina is being brought into the inner circle, though she still doesn't have her body back yet.
Blake and Yang are safe and are staying with Weiss and Gangrel.
A lot of this scene was basically to summarise the separate threads and have Qrow, Winter and Glynda along with their group tie some of the separate threads together because for once it isn't the students going out and doing the legwork; which means they still need to be introduced to the villains.
And yes Fluffy and Heely told Qrow about Pyrrha, though they haven't seen her face yet.
So I wonder who Qrow are gonna send to have a look for the Grimm infestations….it's not like there are any students teams who're writing a thesis on defending the city now is it.
Okay so Qrow's on the money but he doesn't know it yet, he only suspects because seeing that Grimm arm naturally made him think of Cinder (Although in Downward Spiral she didn't have the Grimm arm, just the parasite) which then raises the obvious question of "Who's the Salem to the new Cinder?"
The scene in the cafe at the end was just some wholesome goodness because we all need that in our lives.
And yes I'm doing another dance.
And yes Arctus is gonna pop the question there.
Thank you to SumoSnipe and Funlander for their reviews on the last chapter.
I mean I'd be failing if the two Yang's didn't meet and I feel like any witty banter between the two of them would have to involve puns….
Oh yeah, that festering meat smell I worked at a scrapyard/recycling plant that was totally not a front business for the Irish Mob back in 2016...It was actually getting laid off from there that got me into RWBY. First drop off every Monday morning was from a slaughterhouse, 40 tons of the plastic sheets they put down on the floors...some of it had been left for a week; in the fucking summer.
Aegis Thunder isn't broken, I doubt it got melted down in that house fire; it's just out of ammo so if it finds its' way back to Atlas it can be reloaded.
The Spring Maiden has only actually been alluded to in this story, Qrow had found her and the Winter Maiden at some point before Vol.1; the Spring Maiden is terraforming Menagerie whilst the Winter Maiden is laying low in Vaccuo, I haven't shown them on screen because I feel like if I go that route things will just become a retread of Downward Spiral.
….That being said, I do have plans to introduce "A" Maiden in this story.
Even the Death Squad are gonna have to look at the evidence and realise the person who's using multiple Semblances isn't Yang; besides Fawn was getting away with murder because she had information on people, that info died with her so now her little taskforce has other problems.
Nope, now ask yourself this; if I let Arctus and Diamond have their moment….just what level of fuckery have I got stored away waiting to be deployed?
Yang Branwen has her own Semblance, Neo's Semblance, Sun's Semblance, Ruby's Semblance, Artemis's Semblance and maybe a couple others….She's also got one that I'm deliberately holding back because it's gonna be great.
I can confirm that she doesn't have Adam, Pyrrha, Marrow or the Schnee Semblance….And I can give you a terrifying teaser and tell you that she's going to get another new Semblance before this is all over.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review